Governor to take week-long tour of Virginia successes

Gov. Bob McDonnell is taking a tour across Virginia beginning Friday to highlight accomplishments from his term.

McDonnell has gone on similar tours of the state during his administration, but this one comes as McDonnell deals with a gifts scandal that has plagued the last part of his gubernatorial term.

The tour will start in Salem on Friday and end the following Thursday in Lynchburg. Successes include a lower unemployment rate and a net of 172,600 new jobs, McDonnell says.

“Agricultural exports have reached record highs,” McDonnell said in a statement. “At the same time we’ve posted four straight revenue surpluses, more than doubled the state’s Rainy Day Fund, and dramatically reduced the future unfunded liabilities in our pension system. State workers have received their first pay raise in 6 years. We broke a nearly three-decade long standstill on transportation funding to put in place a bold new plan that will pump nearly $6 billion in new revenue into roads and rail around the state over the next five years.”

Last month McDonnell apologized for any embarrassment he and his family have caused Virginia and said his family was returning the gifts they had received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams and that his business and wife were repaying $120,000 in loans.

The events on the tour include a “major economic development announcement” in Chesapeake next Tuesday.